Our Mission

The primary mission of the MBTA Transit Police is to ensure a safe environment within the transit system, reduce fear, and to promote the confidence of the riding public through community policing. Our fundamental duties are to safeguard lives and property within our transportation system and uphold the constitutional rights of all people by following a set of core values that reflect the finest nature of Policing, which are: Fairness, Truthfulness, Professionalism, Perseverance, Treating All Persons with Dignity and Respect, Service Before Self and Integrity.

Our Core Values

The MBTA Transit Police, like all other police agencies, has an extensive compilation of policies, rules, and standard operating procedures that are intended to guide officers in their exercise of discretion and inform their daily decision-making. In addition to the written directive system, the department is driven by an internal set of values that are fundamentally important to an officer’s personal sense of duty, both to the community and to each other.

FAIRNESS. Everyone should be treated the same way, and established rules must be enforced impartially. Internally, fairness means that all employees must be held to the same standards, and that no deviation will be made because of personality, friendship, or similar factors. Externally, fairness means the same thing. Criminal laws establish the limits of acceptable behavior, and those laws must be enforced as impartially as possible, without favor or personal bias. As guardians of the law, officers have an extraordinary obligation to adhere to the law, and no deviation from that standard can be tolerated.

TRUTHFULNESS. Truthfulness is interpreted in the broadest sense. It is more than avoiding outright lies. Rather, it is an implied spirit of openness that requires even unintended misperceptions to be corrected when discovered rather than allowing them to persist. Truthfulness means that all employees, from the very top of the organization to the bottom, admit mistakes when they are made, and take responsibility for their decisions even when it is not in their own best interest to do so.

PROFESSIONALISM. Police careers are much more than “just a job.” Police officers willingly and unwaveringly adhere to the high standards that their vocation imposes upon them, and are committed to doing their very best at all times, under all circumstances. This commitment to excellence is the cornerstone of the department’s service model.

PERSEVERANCE. Policing is simultaneously the most rewarding and the most difficult of jobs. Officers are both expected and required to remain composed and evenhanded in the most difficult of circumstances.

TREATING ALL PERSONS WITH DIGNITY AND RESPECT. This statement represents the true nature of policing at its best. Bias must be avoided in all its manifestations, both internally and externally, so that dignified and respectable treatment of all people can be assured.

SERVICE BEFORE SELF. Generally speaking, individuals do not seek a career in policing because it is lucrative or exciting, but rather, because of a sincere desire to help others in times of need. It is important not only to serve the community, but also to remain free of any conflicts of interest that might tarnish the department’s reputation or standing.

INTEGRITY. Integrity is defined as having a steadfast adherence to a strict moral or ethical code. At the MBTA Transit Police Department it is defined as “doing the right thing when no one is looking”. The nature of policing is such that most of the officer’s work is done out of sight of their supervisors. Officers take pride in knowing that they can be relied on to conduct themselves in a way that reflects favorably on the police department and on the profession itself.